Kearney in the fast lane
The group had gathered inside for a theory session. Most of the kids were in the back three rows, former Kiwis and Warriors coach Endacott recalls. There was only one in the front row. He asked me more questions than anyone else in the room and he was taking notes … I didnt know who he was then but I remember saying `that kid will be a Kiwi.
That kid not only went on to win 45 tests he is now the new Kiwis coach. Stephen Kearney, 35, assistant-coach at the Melbourne Storm club where he won an NRL title as a player in 1999, was confirmed this week as Gary Kembles replacement for the May 9 centenary test against Australia in Sydney.
The coaching comet that is Stephen Kearney takes over a national team he played for just four years ago.
Endacott never doubted Kearney would coach his country — though even he did not expect it to be so soon. He coached the big second-rower in the test arena for seven years and remembers Kearney poring over his business diploma studies on long plane trips to England while his team-mates were channel-hopping on the in-flight entertainment consoles.
He knew where he was going even then.
Kearney chuckles at Endacotts anecdote from the teenage training camp. Im pretty sure I wasnt in the front seat … but I was taking notes.
He is, he admits, still a meticulous man. Thats what worked for me from an early age. I probably didnt have the natural skills that some players possessed so, like Frank said, I took my notes down for future reference. Thats what worked for me then and nothings really changed … I still write a few notes down.
Kearney was precocious as a player. He was a Wellington senior representative at 17 and captained the Junior Kiwis in 1990 and 1991.
There are parallels now with his fast-tracking as Kiwis coach to his selection as New Zealand leagues youngest-ever captain as a 21-year-old tenderfoot in 1993. Kearney was still earning his spurs in Western Suburbs first grade side when selected to tour Great Britain. He won a test place and, when coach Howie Tamati dropped skipper Gary Freeman for the final test, he turned to that kid from the Kapiti Coast as his new leader.
Kearney said soon after that experience that he felt, looking back, I would rather not have had it (the captaincy) … To be given the captaincy after one only year in first grade, I felt was ludicrous. Its not that I didnt want it — I didnt deserve it.
Kearney discharged his responsibilities professionally, but only captained the Kiwis once more against Australia in 1999. He was always regarded as a senior player and the skippers on-field lieutenant. I felt, as a player, whether I was captain or not, I knew my responsibilities on the field. I dont want to say I played like a leader, thats just the way I played.
Kearney is taking a similar approach to his new coaching challenge. He agrees that, in an ideal situation, it might have been better if the job had come later in his career.
But the opportunity came about when (the NZRL) asked me two weeks ago if I was interested.
The carrot was the chance to learn from Brisbane Broncos coaching legend Wayne Bennett, who has been appointed by the Kiwis as a technical adviser. Obviously the opportunity to work with Wayne and have them there in an advisory role was something I didnt think would be there in two years time … I thought the opportunity was too good to pass up.
Kearney says he gets to work with the best coach in the business at the Storm in Craig Bellamy, winner of the last two Dally M coach of the year awards. And then, on a special occasion, I get to work with probably one of the greatest coaches of the modern era (Bennett). I couldnt see that as being a negative.
Kearney is confident enough he and Bennett and their yet-to-be-appointed management staff can create the right environment for the Kiwis to be competitive. He subscribes to the same theory as most successful NRL coaches that coaching is a team game.
He has been carrying a coaching clipboard for only two years but is on a rapid learning curve. There was probably always that desire there (to coach), it just needed something to spark it.
The catalyst came through a telephone call from Bellamy while Kearney was half-way through a one-year deal with Hull FC in England in 2005. I was just about to sit down and look at a (contract) extension and he asked me if I was interested in coming back (to the Storm) to be an assistant.
I made up my mind right then and there, mate. I was going into the coaching business. I had had enough of playing.
Kearney feels he is very fortunate to be learning the trade under Bellamy, who is even more meticulous than the Kiwi as a planner. You cant but help be dragged along by the work ethic Craig has.
The pupil has a similar philosophy, although he quips: As a young coach, I probably dont think Ive got a right to have a philosophy yet, having only been in the job a short time.
He says he will provide the players in the Kiwi camp with the information and resources to be competitive on the field.
But he will not be relying on his reputation as an international player. I think certainly thats going to be of assistance … but I want their respect for how Im going to prepare the sides. Im confident, with the group Ive got behind me, that I have the ability to do that.
The curtain came down on Kearneys decade-long test career in 2004. He played alongside some of the men he will now coach, including forwards Roy Asotasi, David Kidwell, Nathan Cayless and Sonny Bill Williams.
Asotasi and Kidwell were outspoken in their criticism of the Kemble coaching regime and openly urged the Kiwis to appoint Bennett. Some league traditionalists, including Frank Endacott, have been calling for the Kiwis to bypass the pair when they choose a new captain.
But, as far as Kearney is concerned, every man starts with a clean slate. He says it was obvious there were frustrations among the players, but, one thing I dont want to do is spend my energy looking at what theyve done and what theyve said. The same applies to the players. Id rather have them focus on whats ahead.
Kearney has made it clear he will consider English Super League players. Thankfully, Im going over there in a weeks time for the World Club Challenge (between the Storm and the Leeds Rhinos, coached by former Kiwis mentor Brian McClennan). Ill look to catch up with a lot of those (Kiwi) guys.
But he also believes the Kiwis NRL talent pool is getting deeper by the year. Sonny Bill Williams, the Bulldogs back-rower, and Wests Tigers half Benji Marshall are regarded as among the best in the competition. Ive got those two, Kearney says, and Roy Asotasi would have to be touted as one of the best front rowers to play the game.
Most NRL clubs are flush with Maori and Pacific Island players. At our club here weve got Polynesian boys coming to us at 16 with a body shape its taken two years to put on an Australian.
Kearney was considered young when he went to Wests at the age of 19. Now, he says, Kiwi kids are coming to Australia as schoolboys and getting the mental toughness the Australians have tended to have, as part of their culture … They are conditioned, NRL-style.
Toughness is something Kearney knows a lot about. He was lucky to survive a sickening accident on his first Kiwis tour in 1993. He and Kiwis wing Jason Donnelly plummeted to the earth when a motel balcony gave way underneath them in the French town of Carcassone.
Kearney landed on his head and said, in a Rugby League Week interview soon after, that when I woke from the semi-coma, I was screaming. The headaches were really bad. I was in hospital for eight days.
When I got back to Sydney the neurosurgeon diagnosed that the bruising was severe, the brain was haemorrhaging. They said I was fortunate I had my fitness and health. If it was an elderly person, it would have been different. Maybe they wouldnt have made it.
But Kearney did make it — right to the top, winning NRL rings as a player and a coaching assistant. Now he has the top job with the Kiwis, expect the quiet achiever to keep his head down and just get on with it.
The final word goes to Endacott. Stephen Kearney was an exceptional player who understood the finer points of the game. His attitude was always first-class. He knows what it takes to win. Hes been part of the scene as a player for many years and always had the attributes to become a Kiwis coach. Hes a very astute person.
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Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 1:29 am under